Diamond In The Rough

 Need to knit faster! Otherwise I will be showing you this jumper for the next few months - and I will run out of sayings about diamonds!

I have reached the armhole shaping on the front.

As you can see from this close up, it would definitely be neater to knit in the round. The purling back makes the stitches messier, I think. Or maybe it is the yarn? 

I have worked colourwork in the flat before with a plumper yarn and it looked neater than this. 

We will have to wait and see!

While there is not much movement in the jumper, let's take another look at some fashions from the early 1930s.

These are from this wonderful book that I borrowed from the library, Fashion Sketchbook 1920-1960 by John Peacock. 

I love the sketches and particularly that he has added the detail of the fabrics used for the garments.

All so very stylish!

John Peacock has published many fashion books, including a series organised by decades. If my library had it available, I would have borrowed the 1930s Fashion Sourcebook as there would be more detail.

There is a Fashion Sourcebook for each decade from the 1920s to the 1980s. The 80s one is super fun as that is when I was a teenager!

But I am saving my pennies to buy the gorgeous hardback edition, The Complete Fashion Sourcebook, which has all the books in one volume. It also includes a reference section that charts garment shapes through the decades and has biographies of the outstanding designers of each era.

John Peacock also has written The Chronicle of Western Costume, if you would like to travel further back in time. This book has full-colour illustrations and covers chronologically from the ancient world to the late twentieth century. 

I just love browsing through these books.

I will be back next week with more diamonds!